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RADENG
Surprised you paid £10 in May!. It's the same as wife and I paid to enter Turkey 19 years ago!!. I would have thought that would have been greater by now!! |
ESTA Renewal
Although our ESTAs don't expire until Dec 2010 I've just renewed them early & without any problem & obviously FOC.:ok:
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Traveling to the US was a lot easier in the 90's :{ You just had to fill 2 (?) papers. You know the one with those stupid questions: Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or adict? Sure, what the heck do you care? :ugh:
Do they really think to get rid of "terrorists" by following that road? I guess there are killed many more people in the US by US citizens than by foreigners every year. I am sure that young people never visited US before may stay away from a trip after being informed about the actions to be taken prior entering the country and spend their money in other countries. Probably tourists will spend less money over the coming years. |
SprockyGer.
I disagree that people will stay away. A few minutes, or an hour if you like, hassle to enter the country is a small penalty to pay for a great holiday. When all these restrictions started coming in, Mrs Jem would say 'well, shan't go there again' But we always do. We have visited the States over 20 times now, and I have never been dealt with other than with politeness, and interest by TSA people, but then, we are on holiday, and approach the booth with a smile, and a 'hi, nice to be back' Never had a problem. Not long ago it took three quarter of an hour to get back into my home country at midnight at Stansted. Non British passport holders got through far quicker!!. |
powervid
Went over to our family in Canada some weeks ago ( always such a good welcome into Canada, like welcome back when they see you have been to Canada a lot by the stamps on your Passport) one day went over to the USA for a few hours handed in our Irish Passports ( must be good passports to have " A LOT OF FOLK FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD USE THEM DON`T YOU KNOW " with our passports we had our ESTA s....met with guy who had just suck a lemon who said over to that building, we sat in this hot hot building with a lot of other folk for about 35min...name called, was told that ESTA s were only if we came in by air !!!!! and NOT by land and it would cost 6$ each for an 90day pass.....welcome to the good old USA....Must remember such a good Welcome... Powervid
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Back in the '60s, I guy I later worked for went to the US on business. In those days, you needed a visa, and one of the questions was on the lines of 'have you ever been involved in sabotage?' So he answered 'Yes' and was asked at a somewhat fraught interview what sabotage he had been involved in. The attitude changed when he explained that as a British Army captain in 1944, he was behind the lines in Yugoslavia liaising with the partisans and sabotaging bridges and railway lines!
The form was also supposed to have a question about ones intentions to overthrow the US government. It is said that the late Gilbert Harding put 'Sole purpose of visit' and they never noticed! |
Staying away
As for staying away - it will be another item that does keep people away.
Currently I will avoid transiting in the US unless it is sufficiently cheaper to allow for the hassle (security, collecting bags, re-checking in, more security etc). This is more hassle, and it isn't even free hassle - I have to pay to get a visa waiver (doesn't that make it a visa?) And it will prevent me spending nights in hotels (o/n layovers), money in airport terminals, etc. Instead I'll fly via a country that doesn't put all those obstacles in the way. T5 gets a lot of my business as a result, and to a lesser extent Amsterdam and Madrid. |
Went over to our family in Canada some weeks ago ( always such a good welcome into Canada, like welcome back when they see you have been to Canada a lot by the stamps on your Passport) one day went over to the USA for a few hours handed in our Irish Passports ( must be good passports to have " A LOT OF FOLK FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD USE THEM DON`T YOU KNOW " with our passports we had our ESTA s....met with guy who had just suck a lemon who said over to that building, we sat in this hot hot building with a lot of other folk for about 35min...name called, was told that ESTA s were only if we came in by air !!!!! and NOT by land and it would cost 6$ each for an 90day pass.....welcome to the good old USA....Must remember such a good Welcome... Powervid |
ESTAs
Must say stand corrected re same, must have missed it on the form we filled in on the internet, however as we had cleared with them on the internet and they had more info about us than our Gran and our own goverment all on the US data base, by us droping by on a land bridge and not by air what more could they want as I am sure the Guy/Lady at the air check point would have the same data so what is the prob...or is it they just don`t want us folk anymore as we must be a pain in the butt the way the lemon guys look at us...Maybe Canada is best after all .....
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I94 (w)
Hartington - the I 94 W (green) has now been abolished.
Confusingly, it's still referred to in all the documentation (I guess nothing's been updated yet), and they're still dotted around the immigration hall, but they're not required any more. ESTA's all you need. |
I've always found the I94 W (green) to be of limited use.
You document how long you'll being staying and for which purpose and they ask you... "How long are you staying and why?" I once said "For exactly the length of time I've written down and for exactly the purpose I've stated", but I determined very rapidly that the INS people have no sense of humour. Not worth it... |
All border agency staff in ALL countries have 'No Sense of Humour' as a compulsory check box on their application form and this is verified before they are accepted. :p
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I stand corrected on the I-94 issue, my only excuse being that we haven't been back to the UK since March.
I guessing that everyone still has to fill out the customs form or has that gone with the I-94. |
Jarvy - Yes, you still have to do the customs declaration (nope, I don't have a live chicken in my handbag), and people who previously had to fill in the normal I94 (not the visa-waiver green form) have to do that too.
It's nice not to have to fill in the form, but there was still a lot of confusion about it when I went through in mid-July about who needed what: I think the I94-W had been abolished as of the start of July. Edited to add: Paxboy: I had a customs guy in SFO try to matchmake me with the guy behind me in line (I guess because we were both travelling solo), and then when I wasn't taking the bait, try to give me his number... I wasn't going to test out his sense of humour by giving him the slapdown I thought that merited! |
Immigration People
Best and most pleasant immigration people that I have found so far.... Canada, Tahiti ( if you have an EU passport) Shannon Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, all get 5 star ,,,,,Just add on yours...
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The Swiss are always professional and, from time-to-time, have been known to have a sense of humour. However since they've joined Schengen I only see them when I'm flying to/from the UK.
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Airline crews are still slightly confused. On a recent flight I was given the white form to fill out which when presented to the immigration guy was promptly torn up as I have completed ESTA. Took less than 20 mins from parking to being on the inter-terminal train having completed the usual formalities & handing baggage back for onward connecting flight. Took 45 mins to get back into the UK thanks to T1 at LHR not having a UK nationals only line + only 4 manned booths at 8:30am.
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Only £10 to get into the USA, seems like pretty good value to me :ok:
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£10 to get into the U.S. sounds like outstanding value for money given that when I drive over the bridge into Wales it costs me £5.50!! :}
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Originally Posted by paulc
Airline crews are still slightly confused
CC: Do you and your family have a U.S. Visa Sir? Pax: Yes CC: Really? Pax: Yes! CC: May I see your passport for a moment please ? Pax: Sure, take a look CC: There doesn't appear to be a U.S. Visa in this passport sir? - Did you visit the Embassy and spend a huge amount of money for the privilege of waiting around all day for two very short interviews? Pax: No - We got it online If I'd taken him at his word on the second line, he would have received a white I-94. This may not have been what happened in your instance paulc, but it does in many - you have to probe a little, and use experience and thought to get the truth. My other favorite... CC: Do you and your family have a U.S. Visa Sir? Pax: No - I have a Green Card CC: That's Great, just join the U.S. Citizens queue at Immigration and welcome home! Pax: Welcome Home? I'm on vacation? CC: But you have a Green Card? Pax: Yes - My friend got some extra on his last flight and I've filled them out in advance CC: Aaaah! Thank you Grasshopper - Now I understand! - and so on... We are one of the trial airlines for paperless U.S. immigration i.e. the ESTA information is used in lieu of the green I-94W. A surprising number of people refuse to believe us when we tell them, and so we give them a green placebo to complete - which is then discarded at CBP when the present. :):):):):):):):):):):) |
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